Chungking Express

1
Chungking Express

• Revisited

2
On its release in the UK in 1995, Chungking
Express was described in Sight Sound by Tony
Rayns as

• a directors film. The level of invention in
  the plotting and the film language is almost
  profligate and the wit of the writing leaves the
  average Tarantino dialogue sounding like sitcom
  filler.
• (1995, p48)

3
The techniques used in Hong Kong films seem to be
far more overt than in most Hollywood films.In
the case of Chungking Express, the film draws
attention to itself through the use of - jump
cuts - hand-held camera - stop-motion
photography
4
At A2 level, you are expected to have an in-depth
knowledge of the film. This should reflect its
production and audience context, as well as its
textual properties.You should be able to use
appropriate terminology with reference to the
film as evidence.
5
KEY TERMS FOR TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

• Cinematography
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scène

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

• In his book The Language of Cinema, Kevin Jackson
  offers the definition of the work of the
  cinematographer as
• the person in charge (generally after
  consultation with the director) of lighting the
  set and actors setting up and moving the camera
  selecting appropriate lenses, stocks, filters
  establishing the composition of images and so on
  in general, then, the person who helps create
  what can loosely be called the look of a film,
  its visual identity. (1998, p.48)

7
This definition clearly affects the concept of
authorship. A director often works
collaboratively with a cinematographer, editor or
producer over a number of films.
8
For example, Martin Scorsese has had a long-term
collaboration with his editor, Thelma
Schoonmaker, and she has contributed to his
auteur signature, through developing a
distinctive style and look.
9
Similarly, the tensions present in Alfred
Hitchcocks working relationship with producer
David O Selznick while working in Hollywood had a
marked effect on the outcome of his films and, by
extension, his auteur status.
10
EDITING

• By controlling time and space within the film
  narrative, editing plays a central role in
  constructing the film in its final form.
  Continuity editing often creates the illusion of
  a seamless transition over time and locations.
  Editing enables scenes to be constructed so that
  they make sense to the viewer. It can also
  control the positioning of the viewer in relation
  to characters through, for example, point-of-view
  shots.

11
More experimental forms of editing have been
linked with Art cinema. For example, an Art film
may employ an editing style that disorients the
viewer, subverting the process of becoming lost
in the narrative by interrupting conventional
narrative flow.
12
While continuity editing makes the construction
of the film invisible, allowing the viewer to
focus on the narrative, some filmmakers may
choose to draw attention to the film as a
constructed text, consciously highlighting the
editing process through style and technique.
13
This kind of editing is a trademark of New Wave
films, although experiments with editing date
back to the earliest days of filmmaking. The
Russian director, Sergei Eisenstein, famously
experimented with editing in his films, including
The Battleship Potemkin (1925, Russia), to create
a special effect and to enhance the impact of key
sequences, notably the Odessa Steps montage
sequence. In this example, the jarring effect of
jump cuts and the juxtaposition of shots
contribute to the creation of meaning in the film
- drawing to the subject matter.
14
Increasingly, mainstream films have employed a
more obviously constructed style of editing, with
the use of dissolves and jump cuts becoming
acceptable devices to manipulate time and space.
15
Cross-cutting

• This is used as a means of creating a sense of
  the narrative event meanwhile in a film. It is
  usually apparent that this is happening and easy
  for us to make the connection in out minds.

16
Yet in the case of Chungking Express, the
cross-cutting at the beginning of the film gives
us little sense of a connection between the
characters and events that we see.
17
This seems to act as a metaphor for the lives of
the characters within the narrative and enables
us to interpret the film quite differently
viewings.
18
JUMP CUTS

• An intentionally visible form of editing used as
  a stylistic device, the jump cut can be compared
  with the use of continuity editing as a narrative
  device. It was most famously used in Jun-Luc
  Godards A Bout de Souffle (1960, France) and is
  common feature of New Wave films, as well as
  music videos. Rather than disorientating the
  viewer, it is now almost a convention, in the
  sense that it epitomises New Wave films.

19
SOUND there are 2 basic elements to sound on
screen

• Diegetic sound emanates from within the world of
  the film. This may include visible sound such
  as the dialogue between characters. Sound which
  is not seen but still belongs within the frame,
  such as off-screen footsteps, or a radio playing
  within the scene is still diegetic

20
Non-diegetic sound is added post-production, such
as a soundtrack or a voiceover.
21
It can be useful to select an extract from the
film and view it with the sound muted. What
expressive devices are now being revealed, in the
absence of sound? Editing, cinematography and
other aspects of form are now more obvious.
22
Soundtracks can also act as a narrative device
(as in the anti-police song in Kassovitzs La
Haine). Chungking Express uses American popular
songs to signpost a recurring theme and to
connect with a contemporary audience.
23
MISE-EN-SCÈNE

• Lighting
• Setting and props
• Positioning of actors/characters and objects
• Facial expressions and body language
• Costume, hair and make-up

24
Mise-en-scène is often a defining trademark of a
director, but it is also the result of the
contribution by a number of people in addition to
the director the art director, set designer,
costume designer, lighting director, editor, etc.
25
In Chungking Express, the New Wave look is
largely attributed to its director, but how have
others contributed to it, e.g. the
cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, and set
designer, William Chang? Despite these
contributions, how does mise-en-scène remain a
defining feature of Wong Kar-Wais directorial
style?
26
WONG KAR-WAI AND AUTEURSHIP

• An auteurs body of films will have defining
  moments which mark this director as distinctive.
  There will be a consistency in style, themes and
  approach. They will be more likely to be
  motivated by the expression of a personal vision
  rather than fulfilling the needs of a production
  company.

27
Useful to the analysis of a directors auteur
status is knowledge of the production
circumstances in which they work. What kind of
financial constraints, for example, does the
director have to work within? Is he or she in
control of any creative or financial aspects of
their filmmaking, for example, by writing the
screenplay or acting as a producer?
28
So, to what extent is Wong Kar-Wai an auteur?
His work is sometimes compared to the early films
of Jean-Luc Godard, in particular Chungking
Express with A Bout de Souffle. Wong Kar-Wai
also operates outside the mainstream film system,
at the art-house, low-budget end of the market.
29
He was one of the first directors to establish an
independent production company (Jet Tone), an
unusual move for a Hong Kong director. One way
he sustains his company is by pre-selling his
projects in those markets where his name and
those of his stars are considered bankable.
30
Another way he retains independence is to make
commercials, although this may imply a compromise
in terms of his auteur status. However, Alfred
Hitchcock had to work in the Hollywood studio
system to gain financial backing, at the cost of
more artistic constraint - a compromise from
which, many argue, emerged some of his most
highly regarded work.
31
Directors who work independently face the problem
of attracting foreign investors who may impose
constraints as a condition for backing the film,
by insisting on a genre, star and general
bankability. They will also wish to see a
script.
32
This is difficult in the case of Wong Kar-Wai, as
he resists the preparation of detailed scripts in
advance of shooting. His method, instead, is to
write fairly detailed outlines, retaining the
option of deviating from them during production,
so the film can grow organically.
33
This may contribute to the look of Chungking
Express, which took just three months to make,
from shooting to première. Its unscripted style
might be seen as an auteurist feature.
34
A further auteurist feature in Wong Kar-Wais
work is that, although his films appear quite
different in terms of content, similarities can
be found across them.
35
Tony Rayns (1995) has identified some of these
factors as

• A reluctance to work within a genre format,
  something that limits a popular audience for his
  films in Hong Kong. (His box-office performance
  there is erratic)
• The casting of indigenous stars against type or
  in unusual roles (they are apparently very keen
  to work with him)

36
Unpredictability in terms of what the next film
may be like Chungking Express was made between
Days of Being Wild (1991, Hong Kong) and Ashes of
Time (1994, Hong Kong/China/Taiwan), and yet it
would be difficult to place this film alongside
the other two
37
Similarities in terms of the themes in his films
all characters experience loneliness, insecurity
and the inability to commit (as identified by
Wong Kar-Wai himself)

• The ultimate test of an auteur - imitation or
  influence. As Wong Kar-Wai has acknowledged,
  Too many directors are doing Wong Kar-Wai
  these days, so I have to do something different.
  (The director in an interview with Tony Rayns,
  Jan 2000)